Migrant quotas are on the agenda again, posing a threat to Member States and European cities, the Government Spokesperson said at a press conference held on Tuesday in Budapest. István Hollik stated that the Hungarian government’s position remains unchanged: repatriation quotas are acceptable, but mandatory resettlement quotas are out of the question.
Mr Hollik cited a statement made by Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos on Tuesday in which he called upon EU Member States repeatedly to adopt the Malta migration quotas.
The Government Spokesperson confirmed the Hungarian cabinet’s position on which, he stressed, they have not yielded an inch so far, and neither will they in the future, meaning that repatriation or removal quotas are acceptable, but mandatory resettlement is out of the question.
Rather than bringing immigrants into Europe, migrants who came here illegally must be taken out of the territory of Europe, he stated.
He added that the Commissioner’s statement confirms that the departing Brussels Commission intends to spend its remaining few weeks attempting to enforce the mandatory resettlement quotas.
Pro-immigration forces continue to work on bringing in as many migrants as possible in order to distribute them on a mandatory basis. With the adoption and extension of the Malta quota agreement, the goal is to impose a course of action upon the Member States and the European Commission, Mr Hollik said in evaluation.
He said it is deeply anti-democratic and unfair that the European Commission spending its last few days in office is seeking to impose its own course of action upon the new European Commission so that “it should have no scope for manoeuvre in connection with one of the most important affairs concerning the continent”.
The Government Spokesperson stressed that, as far as they see, this is not the first, and evidently not the last attempt. They tried their hands at the council of home ministers, and earlier in the LIBE Committee where they attempted to make Member States adopt the quota agreement, he recalled.
Mr Hollik stated that the opposition and left-wing argument that the migrant quotas are not on the agenda and have never been does not pass the test of truth.
The Government Spokesperson was also asked about the scandal of Győr Mayor Zsolt Borkai. He said in reply that the government regards it as part of the city leader’s private life and does not wish to comment on it.
(MTI)
